DURHAM, N.C. - June 18, 2018 - PRLog -- The Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People has announced their speaker for the 2018 Founders' Day Gala, to be held Saturday, August 25th, at the Durham Convention Center (301 W Morgan St, Durham, NC 27701). This year's theme is "Ignited by Legacy. Driven by Purpose." Each year, the gala honors people in the black community who advocate for and advance the community, who impact the direction of the community, and who elevates the community by achieving greatness in their respective fields.

Professor Melissa Harris-Perry is the Maya Angelou Presidential Chair at Wake Forest University. There she is founding director of the Anna Julia Cooper Center and co-director of Wake the Vote. Melissa is editor-at-large of Elle.com and a contributing editor at The Nation. Along with Dorian Warren, Harris-Perry is principal and co-host of Freedom on Tap, an independent media project combining live events, digital, and audio content. From 2012-2016 she hosted the television show "Melissa Harris-Perry" on weekend mornings on MSNBC and was awarded the Hillman Prize for broadcast journalism.

"We are looking forward to Mrs. Harris-Perry's keynote address, and to honor her work to elevate the community through her various endeavors," said Joye Speight, of Virtue Events, Inc. who will be planning and designing this year's gala.

This year's honorees are Phil Freelon and Ingrid Wicker-McCree.

As Design Director of the North Carolina practice, Phil Freelon leads both Perkins+Will North Carolina offices in Durham and Charlotte. Freelon is a member of the Board of Directors and a key leader for the firm's cultural and civic practice. Freelon's design achievements include cultural, civic and academic projects for some of America's most respected cultural institutions. In 2011, he was appointed by former President Barack Obama to the National Commission of Fine Arts. Freelon is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA) and a recipient of the Thomas Jefferson Award for Public Architecture. In 2017, he was named one of Fast Company's most creative people in business.

Ingrid Wicker-McCree was appointed as the Director of Athletics at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) in 2008, and was one of the driving forces behind NCCU's reclassification to NCAA Division I. In 2014, she received the NCAA Division I FCS Administrator of the Year Award, and was inducted into the IAA John B. McLendon Hall of Fame in February 2016. She was appointed to the board of advisors for the Center for Research in Intercollegiate Athletics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 2017, she was named to the NCAA Division I Council. Wicker-McCree is the first coach in NCCU history to win conference championships in multiple sports.

Tickets for the event are on sale now. Tickets must be purchased online via Eventbrite. For those desiring to purchase tickets in person, DCABP has set up dates for ticket purchases at their office (601 Fayetteville St. Suite 200) from 10am to 1pm. Dates for ticket pickup are July 14, and August 4. The deadline for ticket purchase is August 20. No tickets will be available for purchase at the door. Early ticket purchase is suggested as the event sells out every year.

ABOUT DCABP: The Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People was established in 1935 as The Durham Committee on Negro Affairs, with the purpose of serving as a public forum for discussion of community affairs, and especially Black affairs, in order to arrive at a consensus on its constituent's general betterment.